Beschreibung:

Artist: Roger Hilton (1911-1975) Title: Untitled, April 1957 Signature: signed and dated 'HILTON, APRIL '57' verso Medium: oil on canvas Size: 39.70 x 75cm (15.6 x 29.5in) Framed Size: 61.7 x 97.4cm (24.3 x 38.3in) Provenance: Sandra Lummis Fine Art, London (label verso); Private Collection a#morebtn { color: #de1d01; } a#morebtn:hover { cursor: pointer;} An abstract painting, but one likely based on Hilton's domestic surroundings, Untitled is an expressive composition in reds, blues and browns. Worked with brush, palette knife and perhaps oil paint squeezed directly from the tube, the surface is rich in texture. Although inspiration may well have co... Read more Roger Hilton Lot 42 - 'Untitled, April 1957' Estimate: €15,000 - €20,000 An abstract painting, but one likely based on Hilton's domestic surroundings, Untitled is an expressive composition in reds, blues and browns. Worked with brush, palette knife and perhaps oil paint squeezed directly from the tube, the surface is rich in texture. Although inspiration may well have come from something as simple as clothing draped over an ironing board, the artist has transformed this everyday scene into a powerful essay in colour, line and texture. Hilton painted his first abstract work in 1950, developing his own personal visual language, one based on drawing, where mistakes were not erased but remained very much part of the work. In keeping with his early hero, Piet Mondrian, the colours he preferred were simple; blues, reds, blacks, whites and greens. In 1957, when he painted this work, Hilton had not yet moved to St. Ives, although he was making exploratory visits to the Cornish town. Born in Northwood, Middlesex, Roger Hilton came from a middle-class immigrant family. Originally from Hamburg, his father was a medical doctor, but because of anti-German feeling, during World War I the family changed their name from Hildesheim to Hilton. After studying art at the Slade School under Henry Tonks, in the 1930's Hilton made several trips to Paris, where he attended Ranson college, an offshoot of Academie Julian, at Montparnasse. During the Second World War he was in the army, afterwards teaching at Bryanstown School in Dorset, and at the Central School of Arts. Up to 1956 he lived and worked in London. In 1965, he divorced his first wife Ruth David, and married Rose Phipps, also a well-known artist. The couple settled permanently in Cornwall and had two children, Bo and Fergus. Enjoying the company of fellow artists, including Tony and Jane O'Malley, Hilton was described by his friend, the poet W. S. Graham, as an 'artist of the astringent, the uncharming, the unkitchened'. His work became less abstract in his later years, being often based on the nude or images of animals. But, representational or not, Hilton's paintings and drawings are always characterised by vivacious energy of line. He died at Botallack, near St. Just, in 1975. Peter Murray, March 2023